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CBS in on the deal?

E

evnlee

Guest
okay, I'm not buying it, but a poster on the ATL boards queried thus:

"what if CBS is behind the fanning of these flames? Supposedly NBC encouraged Dana Carvey's lampooning of Johnny Carson as a means to help budge Johnny out of his chair in the early `90's.

So maybe CBS says, "Don is closing in on 70. We can't make bucks off of one of Paul Harvey's peers in morning drive. Someone fax the news to Al Sharpton that Don said 'nappy-head hos' this morning and see if we can get him out of here." It's a win-win for CBS: they're sensitive to social issues, and their rid of a guy maybe they wanted to unload anyhow."

I thought Imus was still bringing in alot of $$$ for CBS.....Am I wrong?
 
evnlee said:
okay, I'm not buying it, but a poster on the ATL boards queried thus:

"what if CBS is behind the fanning of these flames? Supposedly NBC encouraged Dana Carvey's lampooning of Johnny Carson as a means to help budge Johnny out of his chair in the early `90's.

So maybe CBS says, "Don is closing in on 70. We can't make bucks off of one of Paul Harvey's peers in morning drive. Someone fax the news to Al Sharpton that Don said 'nappy-head hos' this morning and see if we can get him out of here." It's a win-win for CBS: they're sensitive to social issues, and their rid of a guy maybe they wanted to unload anyhow."

I thought Imus was still bringing in alot of $$$ for CBS.....Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

Imus made millions for CBS, but the network decided to ax the long-time 'shock jock', I believe, because major sponsors were bailing. Also the network decided that instead of prolonging this story for for two more weeks, just cut the cord with Imus and move on. The question I pose is, do you agree with the network's decision or not and why?
 
Imus made millions for CBS, but the network decided to ax the long-time 'shock jock',

The key word is "made". Past tense. Broadcasting companies don't make decisions based on past history, they make decisions based on what you can do for them right now. Imus was fast approaching his "sell-by" date. I don't know if CBS planned this stunt or not, but it does appear to have worked in their favor.
 
Radio_Realist said:
Imus made millions for CBS, but the network decided to ax the long-time 'shock jock',

The key word is "made". Past tense. Broadcasting companies don't make decisions based on past history, they make decisions based on what you can do for them right now. Imus was fast approaching his "sell-by" date. I don't know if CBS planned this stunt or not, but it does appear to have worked in their favor.
Click to expand...

According to published reports Imus made between $10 to $15 million dollars for the network last fiscal year. Obviously there is no amount released for this year since it's only the 4th month of April. Look at the sponsors who left his show. Two of them spent over $1 million dollars alone. So he made money for CBS right up to his firing.
As for your theory that CBS wanted him fired before this incident, I don't buy it. All the network had to do is just not renew is contract if they didn't want him.
 
The Voice of Reason said:
Radio_Realist said:
Imus made millions for CBS, but the network decided to ax the long-time 'shock jock',

The key word is "made". Past tense. Broadcasting companies don't make decisions based on past history, they make decisions based on what you can do for them right now. Imus was fast approaching his "sell-by" date. I don't know if CBS planned this stunt or not, but it does appear to have worked in their favor.
Click to expand...

According to published reports Imus made between $10 to $15 million dollars for the network last fiscal year. Obviously there is no amount released for this year since it's only the 4th month of April. Look at the sponsors who left his show. Two of them spent over $1 million dollars alone. So he made money for CBS right up to his firing.
As for your theory that CBS wanted him fired before this incident, I don't buy it. All the network had to do is just not renew is contract if they didn't want him.
Click to expand...

good points.

I think this was a big mistake on CBS' part. By caving, they have opened a 'Pandora's box' that will only hurt terrestrial radio.

And please, I did not use the words 'box' in conjunction with a female name to 'shock' or 'offend' ( that goes out to you, Ms Garafalo) ;)
 
According to published reports Imus made between $10 to $15 million dollars for the network last fiscal year.

That's one way to put it. I'm sure that's how Imus' agent would put it. Another way to put it would be "According to published reports CBS made between $10 to $15 million dollars during the AM shift last fiscal year." The issue isn't how much money CBS made during that time slot, it's the difference between what they made because Imus was on the air compared to what they would have made if someone else was on the air in that time slot.

Would they have not made any money at all if there was a host other than Imus in the chair during that time slot? Or might they have made more money if there was someone else other than Imus in the chair during that time slot? If they made $15 million with Imus on the air, but could have made $20 million with a host who would have cleared on more stations, then Imus didn't make CBS $15 million, he cost them $5 million.

All of that is speculation. I don't pretend that it is otherwise. But if you want to refute that speculation, then present some reason as to why someone else in that chair couldn't lead CBS to even higher earnings.

I'm reminded of when Ralph Kiner was still an active player, before he became a sportscaster. He asked Branch Rickey for a raise because he won the home run title. Rickey pointed out that the Pirates finished last in the NL with him on the team, and would have also finished last without him on the team.

So, is Imus the driving force behind CBS's AM Drive slot's profits, or would they have made as much or more without him? And does CBS use the same sort of market and focus group research to determine the answers to such questions to base their decisions on that other broadcasters use to pick which songs to play on the air? Does Imus still "test well" with target audiences?
 
This move may go down as the second worst mistake they ever made...behind ditching oldies on WCBS-FM 101....or maybe third, behind hiring Katie Couric for the CBS Evening Fluff Party....or perhaps fourth behind firing Captain Kangaroo.

Oh well...what will history prove?

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
This move may go down as the second worst mistake they ever made

I can't dispute that. Given the history of really bad moves on the part of CBS, no argument that this wasn't a planned stunt based on the theory that it was a really stupid idea holds water. If anything, the fact that using this as a stunt to fire Imus would have been a really, really stupid idea makes the idea that it was a deliberate stunt even more believeable.
 
Remember this:CBS still has the success of all the Howard Stern replacements to revel in. ;D
 
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